How publishers use gamification and puzzles in newspapers to drive engagement

Publishers constantly seek innovative strategies to engage readers and grow their subscriber base. One proven method that continues to show remarkable effectiveness is incorporating games in newspapers and using gamification in news apps. From classic newspaper puzzles to interactive digital quizzes, the fusion of entertainment and information has become a cornerstone in cultivating reader loyalty, driving habit formation, and diversifying audiences.

This article explores how publishers use games and puzzles in newspapers, utilize gamification strategies, and provide offline gamification options to enhance reader engagement. We examine how these approaches boost subscriptions and revenue in a competitive market through case studies and real-world examples from leading publishers.

The Role of Games and Puzzles in Newspapers

Games in newspapers have been a staple since the early 20th century. Arthur Wynne’s first crossword puzzle was published in the New York World on December 21, 1913. Its instant success led to widespread adoption, and by the 1920s, puzzles in newspapers had become a standard feature.

The New York Times published its first crossword in 1942, marking the beginning of a long-standing tradition. Over time, the offerings expanded to include Sudoku puzzles, word searches, and other newspaper puzzle games. These games found in newspapers provided readers entertainment and a mental challenge, making them a beloved part of the newspaper games section.

In the digital age, publishers have transitioned these offerings online. Newspaper games and puzzles are now available on websites and mobile apps, allowing for interactive and engaging experiences. The New York Times, for instance, offers a dedicated games subscription, catering to crossword and Wordle enthusiasts, demonstrating the enduring appeal of games in newspapers.

Habit Formation and Psychological Motivations

The enduring success of puzzles in newspapers is mainly due to their ability to engage readers differently than traditional news content. They provide a mental break, foster daily engagement, and satisfy psychological cravings.

To understand the psychological motivations, Twipe’s 6 Readers Cravings Model reveals how games and puzzles address several readers’ the innate desires:

• Humor and Entertainment: Newspaper games fulfill the need for amusement and diversion, offering interactive content that entertains and challenges readers.
• Positive, Feel-Good News: Completing a puzzle provides a sense of achievement, fostering positive emotions that counterbalance heavy news.
• Practical Tips or “To Do” Items: Puzzles act as actionable tasks, satisfying the craving for activities that can be completed and checked off.

By addressing these cravings, publishers create content that attracts readers and keeps them coming back, forming daily habits crucial for subscriber retention.

Publishers Leveraging Games to Drive Subscriptions and Engagement

The New York Times: A Leader in Newspaper Games

The New York Times stands as a prime example of a publisher successfully leveraging games to drive subscriptions, engagement, and audience diversification. Their strategic focus on providing highly curated, human-made puzzle experiences has resulted in remarkable success.

Explosive Growth and Engagement

In 2023, The New York Times Games achieved over 8 billion plays, with tens of millions of weekly players. This explosive growth has been driven by a combination of factors:

• New Game Launches: The introduction of games like Connections in 2023, which quickly became the second-most popular game after Wordle, has attracted a broad audience.
• Acquisition of Wordle: Acquiring Wordle in 2022 brought millions of new users to the platform, serving as a significant entry point for new subscribers.
• Enhanced App Experience: The redesigned New York Times Games app has provided a more user-friendly and engaging experience, leading to increased downloads, higher conversion rates, and better retention.

Jonathan Knight, Head of Games at The New York Times, emphasizes the company’s commitment to respecting players’ time and providing enjoyable experiences without resorting to aggressive monetization tactics commonly found in mobile free-to-play games.

“We are focused on providing a highly curated, human-made puzzle experience that respects players’ time. Our games are designed to be engaging and enjoyable without in-app purchases or aggressive monetization.”

Jonathan Knight, Head of Games, The New York Times

Human-Crafted Puzzles and Community Building

A key element of the Times’ success is the emphasis on human-crafted puzzles. Each day’s puzzle is created by a human editor, enhancing the unique experience and creating a connection between the constructor and the solver.

“As a player, you’re faced every day with a real puzzle by a real person. There’s this awesome, almost two-person game going on between the constructor and the solver.”

Jonathan Knight, Head of Games, The New York Times

While the games themselves are not traditionally social, they have fostered a strong sense of community through group chats, online forums, and real-world interactions. Players connect with each other, share their scores, and discuss strategies, further enhancing the overall game experience.

Strategic Role of the Games App

The New York Times Games app has played a crucial role in the growth of the games business. The app’s redesign focused on improving user experience, which has led to:

• Increased Downloads: More users are downloading the app due to its appealing interface and features.
• Higher Conversion Rates: Enhanced user experience has resulted in more free users converting to paid subscribers.
• Better Retention: Engaging content and community features keep users returning to the app regularly.

Converting Games Audience into News Subscribers

The Times recognizes significant potential in converting its games audience into news subscribers. Subscribers who engage with both games and news demonstrate the highest retention rates. The company is actively experimenting with ways to introduce its news and other lifestyle content to games players.

“Come for the games, stay for the news. We’re exploring ways to bring our news and lifestyle content to our games audience, recognizing that cross-engagement leads to higher retention.”

Jonathan Knight, Head of Games, The New York Times

While the Times has achieved impressive organic growth, it is also exploring strategic partnerships to expand its reach and access new audiences. Collaborations with brands like Delta Air Lines allow the Times to offer its games to a broader audience, enhancing brand visibility and attracting potential subscribers.

Some observers have speculated that The New York Times is becoming a gaming company due to the significant engagement with its games. However, industry experts and the Times itself view games as part of a broader strategy to diversify editorial offerings and enhance the core news business.

“The New York Times is not becoming a gaming company any more than the acquisition of The Athletic would imply they are becoming a sports company. They are strengthening their core business by diversifying into adjacent markets.”

Gareth Sutcliffe, Analyst at Enders Analysis

By bundling services like NYT Games, NYT Cooking, and The Athletic, the Times offers additional value to subscribers, encouraging them to engage with multiple products and enhancing overall retention.

Attracting New Audiences and Opening Revenue Streams

NYT Games serves as an entry point for users who might not otherwise engage with the newspaper’s journalism or editorial content. The quality and reputation of the Times’ games create an avid fan base.

“The New York Times, to me, is a badge of quality in general. There’s almost this halo effect around the other games—it feels like they’ve all got [crossword editor] Will Shortz’s stamp of approval.”

Evan Schwartz, Head of Content at Kingsland

Some subscribers pay specifically for access to NYT Games content, demonstrating the appeal of games as a standalone product. This approach diversifies the audience and opens new revenue streams.

Hearst Newspapers: Investing in Collaborative Gaming Platforms

Hearst Newspapers has strategically invested in gaming to engage readers and boost subscriptions. In December 2023, Hearst acquired Puzzmo, a collaborative puzzle games platform Zach Gage and Orta Therox developed. Puzzmo features web-based versions of Gage’s award-winning puzzle games, including SpellTower and FlipArt.

Building Community and Daily Habits

Puzzmo offers a unified system of points, achievements, social connections, and multiplayer modes. This creates a sense of community among players and aims to make the games a daily habit for readers.

The platform’s focus on community building suggests that Hearst sees games as a way to foster loyalty and create a consistent engagement loop. Puzzmo differentiates itself from traditional single-player puzzles by integrating social elements and multiplayer modes.

Broad Rollout and Customization for Publishers

Hearst is rolling out Puzzmo to readers of over 50 brands, including the San Francisco Chronicle and Popular Mechanics. Importantly, Puzzmo includes tools for publishers outside of Hearst’s network to tailor the platform’s look and feel, settings, games, and paywall to their unique needs.

Other publishers, including Vox Media’s Polygon, Digg, theSkimm, and over 120 of Postmedia’s news brands across Canada, are also launching game sites on the Puzzmo platform. Players can access the puzzles at Puzzmo.com and on Hearst Newspapers’ sites.

Strategic Implications

The acquisition of Puzzmo highlights Hearst Newspapers’ strategy of investing in games to engage readers and potentially boost subscriptions. By offering a platform that fosters community and daily engagement, Hearst aims to enhance reader loyalty.

The availability of tools for other publishers indicates that Hearst believes in games’ potential to enhance the reader experience and drive revenue through partnerships and platform licensing.

Apple’s Original Games to Boost Subscriptions

In May 2024, Apple News introduced an original word game called Quartiles for its Apple News+ subscribers in the US and Canada. With the rollout of iOS 17.5, this move signifies Apple’s commitment to enhancing user engagement through games in newspapers and news apps.

Quartiles is a word game in which players use two—or three-letter chunks to form as many words as possible. The game offers bonus points for four-tile words, encouraging players to think creatively. It includes features like streak trackers and rankings to foster daily engagement.

Apple’s investment in puzzles and games is part of a broader effort to make the app a daily habit for more users. Puzzles are seen as a natural complement to news, providing a challenge that can be solved with effort.

“Crossword puzzles are the perfect complement to news. Unlike much of what we read about in headlines, the crossword represents a challenge that, with a little effort, reveals itself to have a tidy set of answers.”

Ross Trudeau, Puzzles Editor at Apple

The Telegraph’s Investment in Puzzles

In the UK, The Telegraph announced in January 2022 that it would add “Britain’s biggest weekly puzzles section” to its Sunday offering. This eight-page addition accompanied four new pages of puzzles for its Saturday edition. The company stated that these changes were prompted by “extensive reader research” and aimed to meet the “needs and interests of our growing community of subscribers.”

The Telegraph offers a puzzles-only subscription for £4.99 monthly, or users can upgrade to a “Digital Plus” subscription for broader access.

Technological Innovations in Newspaper Games

Human-Crafted Puzzles vs. AI-Generated Content

While advancements in AI have enabled publishers to create dynamic and personalized content, many leading publishers emphasize the importance of human editors in crafting puzzles. The New York Times, for instance, employs a dedicated team of editors to curate their games.

Jonathan Knight describes the human element as the Times’ “superpower”: “We have hundreds of submissions a month coming in from the puzzle constructor community at large. There’s a very rigorous editorial review process to choose the best puzzles.”

This commitment to human-crafted content ensures quality, relevance, and a personal touch that algorithms may lack. It also allows for puzzles to be more inclusive and representative, appealing to a broader audience.

Offline Gamification and Accessibility

Recognizing the importance of uninterrupted access, publishers like the Daily Mail have made newspaper puzzles available offline in their apps. This addresses a critical user need, fostering continuous engagement and positioning publishers as reliable companions in readers’ lives.

Impact on Subscriptions and Revenue

Increased Engagement and Retention

The New York Times’ games are a key driver in the Times’ subscription growth. Their games were played more than 8 billion times in 2023. By December 2023, most global time spent within official NYT apps was in NYT Games.

The Times has found that a subscriber who engages with both news and games in any given week is more likely to remain a long-term subscriber than one who uses only one product.

Monetization Strategies

Publishers are employing various monetization strategies to capitalize on the popularity of games and puzzles:

• Standalone Subscriptions: Offering standalone subscriptions for game sections provides a direct revenue stream. The New York Times charges $5 a month or $40 annually for its games-only subscription.
• Bundling Services: Publishers offer bundled subscriptions, combining news, games, and other services at a discounted rate to enhance value.
• Advertising Opportunities: High engagement rates create valuable advertising space within the newspaper games section, appealing to advertisers seeking an attentive audience.

Competitive Landscape

The success of The New York Times has prompted other publishers to invest in games as a strategic asset. Jonathan Knight tells Press Gazette: “We’re pretty far out in front… but for the record, The Telegraph’s puzzle offering is pretty impressive. We’ve been watching pretty closely what The Telegraph’s doing.”

Publishers recognize that games are not just an add-on but a critical component in attracting and retaining subscribers.

Games in Newspapers Are Key to Subscriber Retention and Audience Diversification

By integrating games and puzzles in newspapers and utilizing gamification in news apps, publishers diversify their content and address the key psychological cravings of their readers.

These developments highlight the strategic importance of investing in high-quality, engaging games and puzzles. They attract new audiences—sometimes ones that might not engage with traditional news content —and deepen engagement with existing subscribers, leading to higher retention rates and increased revenue.

“NYT is simply acknowledging that being a broad generalist spells death online, and they have prioritized and valued the means of addressing that.”

Gareth Sutcliffe, an analyst at Enders Analysis to DigiDay